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First Service CU Buys Building in Park Ten Office Park for New HQ

Friday, May 20, 2016 6:55 AM

Building Will House Corporate Operations and New Branch

First Service Credit Union in Houston, Texas, has embarked on the next phase of its growth strategy with the purchase of a six-story building in the West Houston Energy Corridor as its new corporate headquarters.

The building, at 16430 Park Ten Place, is a long-term financial investment consisting of 110,452 sq. ft. of office space—four times the space of the credit union's current headquarters on Sam Houston Parkway North where it's been for 10 years. The credit union has placed that Sam Houston Parkway location on the market, but plans to maintain a branch within or near the building.

First Service will initially occupy 35,000 square feet of the new building, with current tenants occupying the majority of the remaining space. The size of the new headquarters will allow First Service to easily accommodate its anticipated growth and will house all of its operations, technology and mortgage subsidiary organizations, and a full-service branch and drive-thru.

“The new facility gives us more than enough room to grow over the next decade,” said Dave Bleazard, president of First Service Credit Union. “It is also a great real estate investment for us, with tenants that will offset some of our costs.”

Bleazard added, “As a member-owned financial institution, we always want to be good stewards of our financial resources. We investigated other options and determined buying and renovating an existing building was the best use of those resources.”

First Service plans to move its executive team, mortgage operations, collections, accounting, call center, and other back office departments into the new building within 60 days. The remainder of the staff will move to the new office by year-end.

First Service has more than 160 employees and 10 branches to serve its 58,546 members. The credit union had assets of $597 million as of the end of 2015, a 12 percent growth for the year. First Service’s objective is to become an $800 million credit union by 2018, and the new headquarters building will help the credit union accommodate that growth.

Brokers for the sale were NAI Partners and Stream Realty Partners. First Service is working with Turner Duran Architects in the remodeling and development of the building.

About First Service Credit UnionFirst Service Credit Union has 10 full-service branches in the Houston metropolitan area. It was founded in 1977 by employees of a premier engineering, procurement, construction, and services company, and is now community chartered to serve members in the Houston area. For more information, visit fscu.com.